https://youtu.be/Soa3gO7tL-c

Boulevard Of Broken Dreams - Green Day

Jimin

Taehyung was in my room. We have prepared quiz cards for our weekly subjects. "Pentavalent vaccine is made by?" I fired the question at him.

His face scrunched, but then I also heard distant sirens. Our eyes widened. "What in the world?"

Throwing our blankets aside, we stormed out and found many students in the corridors. "Fire! Fire!"

We heard it too. Fire alarms. Unsure about the wing in which the fire had started, we decided to get out of the dorm building.

There it was, thick smoke and dancing flashes of bright gold and orange. "Junior wing," Taehyung pointed and my eyes enlarged. Ulrich and Jungkook were there. Fuck.

Our footsteps took us there, but the internal firefighting committee was there, too, restricting anyone who was trying to get close.

The whole corridor of the rooms was blocked with hovering smoke with no clear sight to cleave our way through it. "Is there any casualty?" We both asked the man with a fire extinguisher, but there was chaos around. People yelling. Coughing. He didn't hear us, or if he did, he didn't care to respond.

My heart was uncontrollable. Forgotten was cold as we stood there in only our t-shirts and pajamas. It was through the thick smoke that a group emerged, all in neon safety jackets around them. "Jungkook," I spotted him. My mouth left his name as I grabbed Taehyung's skin to gain his focus.

His eyes were wild as he must've been planning how to find another route for entry. I had to jostle him out of it before we ran around the traffic cones that they had placed on the ground to make a partition.

Once the students were out, the team didn't bother to check them. Their priority right now was to get as many students out who were still stuck inside.

As we rushed to the group, a few other seniors also joined us. "Medical help was on the way after our internal system collapsed. There were more students than our medical rooms could accommodate." I heard from one of my classmates, who was also at the site.

"Until the team comes, we can help them all." I was torn between whom to attend first, but Jungkook took one look at me and he fell into my arms. Of course, he wasn't still on talking terms with Taehyung, but I didn't think the result would be any different if he was.

How would I stop him from coming after me? But that was the question for later.

I chanced a glance at Taehyung who nodded at me, holding Ulrich. We supported the two juniors, bringing them away into the fresh air. They were wheezing, their skin had carbon residue, and on closer inspection, we found their nostrils all black. It was taking them a great deal of effort to cough. "It's okay, you are safe now. I'll help you." I kept repeating it.

These boys were in the first year and they still had to learn, but being in the fourth year, we were taught by now to aid in cases of snake bite, second-degree burns, fractures, poisoning, and anxiety attacks.

We took them back to my room. Jungkook fell on the bed while Ulrich rushed up to the washroom to throw up. He was in pain. Jungkook was also in pain. More than pain, he looked terrified.

I filled the bowl with tap water and took a washcloth.

"Hey, hey, Jungkook," I sat beside him, my palm soothing his cheek while I used water to clean him up. His hair was thrown back on the bed, his eyes red-rimmed as his tears rolled out. He was shaken.

"Hyung," he called once and got up, holding his ribs. Before I could take control of the situation, he clung to me like I was his savior. His shaking chest and his small sniffles twisted something inside my chest. I held him back, tight.

Taehyung was rubbing Ulrich's back in the bathroom. When the younger stopped coughing, my friend returned to check up on Jungkook. He stopped by the bathroom door, watching Jungkook clinging to me with pain written on his face. I didn't know I was rocking Jungkook's body in mine.

No, I definitely didn't want anything happening to Jungkook. The realization spoke more than words ever could. I wasn't a monster. Of course, I wouldn't wish any of my juniors to be hurt, but these two were close to me and our group. Maybe I was biased, but it was clear that I hated seeing them in pain. 

But tending to Jungkook still felt like I was doing something wrong for some reason. 

Taehyung approached us slowly, his hand touching Jungkook's shoulder, but the boy was resistant.

When Taehyung managed to pull him away, I immediately rushed towards the bathroom to check on Ulrich.

I watched as Jungkook hid his face in Taehyung's crook of the neck before I closed the door behind me.

**

I opened my eyes, startled by the noise. Thinking that whoever it was would leave if I didn't move was wrong. Bangs turned louder. I groaned. "Tae," my voice hoarse. "Go check."

I heard Tae falling from the bed before the frantic rustle of blankets ceased. The lock of the door twisted and I heard faint vocals. Whoever it was, his tone was serious and voice authoritative. It imbalanced my sleep and when I sat up, I found no one at the wide-open door.

Muttering a curse, I stalked down the hall. Taehyung's room was open and the same voice was coming from inside. I let myself walk closer and I stopped to see a man in a blood-red suit, perfectly pressed, with black boots, sitting on a chair, his back on me.

Jungkook was sitting up on the bed, his upper body bare while Ulrich was under covers.

Then I heard the man speak. "How are you now, son?"

Jungkook nodded. I realized he was the teen's father. His voice was soft and calm, yet Jungkook seemed out of it. I've never seen him this pulled together before. He was sitting straight, a streak of fear in his eyes. I wish I had the ability as a doctor to read feelings. I didn't like it. Reminded me too much of dinner conversation with my own father.

I've known my father to be a proper businessman for all my life. Investment. That was what he did. He invested money, exchanged stocks, rotated his capital, and loaned to people, basically, he knew everything there was about money. When I was three, he snatched the milk feeder from my hands, telling me I was too old to use it. When I was five, he taught me about assets and liabilities. When I turned nine, I learned to do my taxes. And when I turned thirteen, I understood the power of knowing how money worked.

When I got a taste of it. I wanted to be just like him. And he approved of me more than he did my younger brother, who wasn't exactly a prodigal son to my father. Jihyun was born with autism. He was highly functional, but he didn't speak much. He was an extraordinary painter at a young age, but my father didn't understand the language of colors and brushes.

I wanted to help and sell my brother's paintings after growing up. But when I turned fourteen, everything changed. Jihyun and my mother were in an accident. My father was supposed to pick them up from the airport, but due to heavy rain, he got stuck in an unmoving jam. He had instructed the driver to take another route and reach home, but they reached the hospital instead.

I was alone at home, waiting for them. Rather, I received a call and my father's friend knocked on my door. He took me to the hospital and I watched as my father broke down for the first time. He loved my mother more than anything.

He begged the doctors to help her. They tried their best, but couldn't save her, not entirely. She went into a coma indefinitely. Jihyun was saved, but he became more secluded after that. Wouldn't even talk to me.

My father didn't say it, but I could always see in his eyes that he mourned Jihyun's survival. He would have preferred if he died instead of the love of his life.

He came to me one night, his shoulders defeated, eyes battered, and looked at my mother's body on the bed, IVs attached to her hands. His hand squeezed my shoulder, and he said. "You'll become a doctor."

I looked up at him, thinking he was confused, that he was tired, and I sympathized with him. He said that I had to save my mother.

I noticed then. The changes.

He began to redirect my education. He'd hired a teacher to focus on teaching me biology. I wasn't supposed to watch the stock market news. I wasn't supposed to look at the bills or anything with numbers. I was slowly molded into this new life, but my mother passed the day I got into the university.

I wasn't really scared of my father, but I cared too much for his loss, sought affection from him, and wanted him to understand Jihyun and me, and I could feel that Jungkook was also the same with his father. Maybe he also didn't want to be a doctor, but he was afraid of disappointing his father. Maybe his father has also suffered, and Jungkook was afraid that he couldn't give him any more pain. I didn't know for sure.

I couldn't hear much and returned to my room, missing my father suddenly, wondering how was he doing. How was Jih doing?

The fear of doing well in the exam the next day was short-circuiting my brain. Taehyung returned to my relief. "What happened?" I asked.

"Tough shit, man," he groaned, rubbing his hands on his eyes, and then all over his face. "Jungkook's Appa is furious. He's going to take legal action against the university."

"Seems fair." I shrugged, my head pounding.

"He's quite a big name in Korea. I didn't know Jungkook is richer than two of our families combined."

I laughed at that. "Does Mr. Jeon scare you?"

"A little bit," Taehyung fell on the bed. "I don't know... How am I to ever impress that guy?"

"Jungkook or his father?" I was grinning now.

"Both of them. Jesus Fuck."

I patted his back. "For now, by clearing the exam," he looked at me, his head still somewhere in the thought. "Are they fine?" I asked.

"Yeah," he nodded and then sniffled. "Mr. Jeon is moving the two to the VVIP dorms."

"Damn!" I chortled.

"Thanks, Jimin-ah," he spoke sincerely. "Thanks for looking out for Jungkook."

"Don't mention it." I nodded as we began starting our day. I knew I didn't look out for Jungkook because Taehyung expected me to. Just like Tae would be there for Rosenow if I was in the equation or not, I also had developed an understanding of normalcy with Jungkook. If Tae was not interested in him in the future, I was sure I'd still worry about Jungkook.

Though, I could see Tae was different this time. For the first time, he was getting deeper into the rabbit hole without even realizing it. Everyone has thrown themselves on him as far as I can remember. But Jungkook was different. It was hard to get a read on him. He was bubbly, but I had come to understand what Shrek once said, he was like an onion, with layers, like me. No one has reached the inner layer yet.

Nonetheless, I didn't know what was going to happen next. I couldn't wait for the day if and when Tae found out that Jungkook had a thing for me. What would he do then?

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5 Jun, 2023